Investigating ecology and poverty dimensions of biomass use and energy access: methodological issues

The document argues that traditional techno-economic approaches to energy access are insufficient and proposes an ecosystem services lens to better understand how biomass use affects human welfare and the environment. It details three primary research methodologies: demand-side surveys, supply and value chain analysis, and economic modeling of consumer choice, with a particular focus on the charcoal sector in sub-Saharan Africa.

• Traditional biomass energy—including fuelwood, charcoal, and agricultural residues—is the primary energy source for over 2.6 billion people globally and 80% of households in sub-Saharan Africa.
• An ecosystem services approach is presented as a superior alternative to purely socio-economic or techno-economic models because it allows for the analysis of coupled socio-ecological systems and the dynamics across physical-economic landscapes.
• Monitoring the impacts of fuelwood and charcoal is difficult because these activities typically cause land degradation rather than total deforestation, making them hard to detect via standard remote sensing techniques.
• The charcoal sector in sub-Saharan Africa is characterized by significant inefficiencies and systemic issues, including the use of inefficient earth kilns, widespread illegality, corruption in enforcement, and an oligopolistic structure where traders retain most revenues.
• Demand-side surveys can be cross-sectional (providing a snapshot of energy-use patterns) or longitudinal (revealing causal relationships and trends over time), but they are subject to biases from interviewer interactions and difficulties in achieving random sampling in rural areas.
• Discrete choice analysis, based on random utility theory, is an effective economic modeling tool for predicting consumer behavior and market shares by analyzing trade-offs between product attributes, such as price versus smokiness.

APA

Johnson, F. X., Ochieng, C., Jumbe, C., Kituyi, E., Takama, T., & von Maltitz, G. (2015). Investigating ecology and poverty dimensions of biomass use and energy access: methodological issues. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-DB-2015-Ecology-poverty-dimensions-biomass-use-energy-access.pdf

Chicago

Johnson, Francis X., Caroline Ochieng, Charles Jumbe, Evans Kituyi, Takeshi Takama, and Graham von Maltitz. Investigating ecology and poverty dimensions of biomass use and energy access: methodological issues. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2015. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-DB-2015-Ecology-poverty-dimensions-biomass-use-energy-access.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Johnson |first1=Francis X. |last2=Ochieng |first2=Caroline |last3=Jumbe |first3=Charles |last4=Kituyi |first4=Evans |last5=Takama |first5=Takeshi |last6=von Maltitz |first6=Graham |title=Investigating ecology and poverty dimensions of biomass use and energy access: methodological issues |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=2015 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-DB-2015-Ecology-poverty-dimensions-biomass-use-energy-access.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{johnson2015investigating, author = {Johnson, Francis X. and Ochieng, Caroline and Jumbe, Charles and Kituyi, Evans and Takama, Takeshi and von Maltitz, Graham}, title = {{Investigating ecology and poverty dimensions of biomass use and energy access: methodological issues}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2015}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-DB-2015-Ecology-poverty-dimensions-biomass-use-energy-access.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }